How to Stop Your Child From Tormenting Your Pet

It was an unfamiliar, acrid stink that tipped me off. Each time I passed within a few feet of our gray tabby cat, Bumpus, the funk shocked my nostrils. “Cat emitting bad smell,” I typed into an internet search bar, realizing quickly that cats, like skunks, can release a powerful odor when they are anxious or frightened. A close look at Bumpus revealed the possible stressor: Someone, it seemed, had clipped the whiskers and eyebrows on the right side of her face. It didn’t take much sleuthing to pinpoint my son, then 7, as the perpetrator.